Basic Example of Threat & Aggro

Angry MurlocIn today's class we're going to review the basics of threat mechanics--what threat, aggro, and hate are. These terms are familiar to most players, but are often misunderstood. A proper understanding can aid tactics and lesson confusion in-game.\r\rOf course, this is also a great introduction to tanking. Wondering how these big, armor-clad warriors, paladins, druids, or death knights got so mean and hated by creatures everywhere? Well then, sit down and open your books to page three hundred, seventy-six. This is Insensitivity Training 101!\r\r\r\rThreat is a unit used to measure the amount of hatred a creature has for a player. Each player involved in combat with a creature generates an amount of initial hate which rises as they interact with other players or the creature itself. All creatures maintain a threat list to determine who has aggro. Aggro refers to the player in possession of the most hatred from a creature, usually at the top of the threat list.\r\rIf the above sounds familiar, it's because I wrote it last year in a guide for warriors. Despite age, the basic concept remains true. This is how I learned and I think it has worked out well. Perhaps I can pass it on to the rest of you. Now, copy down these definitions:\r\r\rThreat - a unit for measuring hatred toward a player, dictating how a creature will react when engaged by players \rAggro - to cause aggression or generate threat & gain the attention of a creature\rHate - an emotionally angry state of a creature, causing it to become and stay hostile\rThreat list - a list of players currently in-combat, generated by and for a creature to determine it's main target of attack\rAmnesia - a temporary condition which causes a creature to ignore the threat list for a period of time before remembering the top priority\r\r\rInsensitivity Training 101\r\rThat's right. Every gnoll, murloc, and prairie dog encountered in World of Warcraft has feelings. As a society of gamers, we must understand certain actions are insensitive and can lead to serious injury, or in some cases even death. Today we're going to take some basic fundamentals and apply them to a practical, realistic imaginary scenario.\r\r1. If you invade a creature's personal space, it will want to cause you bodily harm.\r\rElena Bennis is a priestess from the eastest. Having never set food beyond the logging camp in Elwynn Forest, she decided to go out exploring. While walking along the banks of a creek she encountered a strange green creature. "Glrglglgl," murmured the creature as she approached. The hideous creature began to chase her flashing, a fashionably violent fistful of furious fish. That's when she stumbled upon Little Johnny, a strapping young lad built like a tank. Having grown up in the Stormwind oraphanage, Little Johnny knew the appropriate response would be to provoke the foul being by calling him every name in the book\u2014and to pray his mother wasn't watching.\r\rOur goal is to nauseate the already obnoxious fiends. What better way than to barbarously insult them?\r\r2. Once aggravated, punish the creature mercilessly, else he may run rampant again.\r\rThere was an audible thump as the creature's jaw hit the ground. Never before in his life had someone so rudely, so disgracefully, so...creatively, insulted his mother. Naturally, this didn't sit well with the creature. Murloc is angry! With fish in hand, and a bucket in tow, the Angry Murloc bit off the head and spit it at Johnny. "Mrglgl, rrglg!" Johnny raised his shield and quickly backhanded Angry Murloc, slamming the creature with the shield spike.\r\rSticks and stones may break their bones, but words can never hurt them. Bash some skulls in, Johnny -- or at least cast some spells on him! Feel the buuurn!\r\r3. When the fiend is attacking you, keep on punching him!\r\rWith the creature's armor torn asunder, Johnny took his revenge upon the angry murloc by striking him upside the head with the hilt of his sword. A heroic strike, to be sure! Just then, the angry murloc raised his bucket to parry Johnny's attack while simultaneously slugging Johnny in the gut with an Enormous Barbed Gill Trout. "Yeeeeouch! Elena, where are you?!"\r\rElena, busy looking at her favorite pictographs of artworks by renowned artist Noxychu, stood up and laced her fingers tightly while whispering a prayer of mending. "Ah, that feels invigorating!" said Johnny. Elena took a step back, fading into the distance. Johnny let out a piercing howl, "Have at thee, gruesome ugly!", and cleaved the creature's face in two.\r\rThe creature will be so focused on hurting the big, hulking meanie who called him a pizza-face he will never notice the guy poking him in the back with a broken bottle, nor the healer sitting in the back. Genius! Pure, unadulterated genius!\r\rAnd that, my friends, is the secret of the threat system every marmot and puppy-man doesn't want you to know. Provoke, maintain, and eliminate creatures through their threat table. But this isn't the only important thing to know about threat. There are a ton of things we can, and will, discuss later on. So, how about you? What are some major questions or concerns dealing with threat you would like answers to?

Комментарии

Комментарий от Malgayne

on 2008-12-04T22:47:16-06:00

Poor murloc! No one ever thinks about his feelings.

Комментарий от ShellyBelly

on 2008-12-04T23:01:51-06:00

I really wish I had read this when I was starting out. People would say "lol noob" to me because, when starting in lower level instances, I would usually ask "What's an aggro? Is that like a monster I need to kill or something?"\r\rGood guide, Arideni. I think all lower levels, regardless of class\/spec, should learn this stuff.\r\rElena, busy looking at her favorite pictographs of artworks by renowned artist Noxychu\r\rI call out Noxychu--draw the story with Elena, Johnny, and the murloc!

Комментарий от Theker

on 2008-12-04T23:08:49-06:00

We need a story about causing too much threat and what happens after to get a better picture :P

Комментарий от Markeh

on 2008-12-04T23:17:18-06:00

Poor murlocs =

Комментарий от Sinespe

on 2008-12-05T00:09:55-06:00

That was ... Wow.\r\rWow ...

Комментарий от Leonhart

on 2008-12-05T00:27:35-06:00

Poor murloc! No one ever thinks about his feelings.\r\rQFT

Комментарий от ArgentSun

on 2008-12-05T00:51:53-06:00

I am sorry, but my constructive response will have to come tomorrow.\rI am laughing too hard now :D

Комментарий от blademeld

on 2008-12-05T02:51:12-06:00

The hideous creature began to chase her flashing, a fashionably violent fistful of furious fish.\r\rWTH?\rThe murloc chased her flashing? I'd chase a girl too if she flashed at me!\r\rAmnesia - a temporary condition which causes a creature to ignore the threat list for a period of time before remembering the top priority\r\r\rNot mentioned in the dialog.\rNor is DPS, just tanking and healing.\r\rAll tanks will have (shortly) 2 types of taunt, a single taunt and a AoE taunt, think of it as a whisper versus a shout.\r\rSome will ask what the point of the single target taunt is, well it's simple, sometimes there's more than what a single tank can tank without losing too much hit points at a time, this is when an off-tank, either designated in a raid or with quick thinking in a 5 man (say a fury warrior) decides to help out the tank a little and pulls one off, after all, the off-tanks aren't as prepared as the main tanks are.\r\rThere are several components to threat, and as associated, several verieties of amnesia. An example of amnesia would be Warbringer O'mrogg of Shattered Halls, he is seemingly random and untauntable, meaning that when he drops aggro, the healer must be quick on their feet. Then there's Lair Brute from Gruul's Layer, these also seemingly randomly drop aggro, and they're tauntable, being tauntable, they have to be taunted rather quickly, or they'll go on a rampage throughout your raid.\r\rAnd then there's the "amnesia" that occurs when the mob decides to incapacitate the tank, such as Moroes from Karazhan, he will gouge the tank and take on the next highest threat. While this is manageable in threat with an off-tank, it's slightly annoying.\r\rWow that was a waste of time.\r\rTTYL folks

Комментарий от TheReal

on 2008-12-05T05:41:55-06:00

If I were to tell new players about aggro, I would definitely point them in this direction. I would also add that:\r\rFor DPS classes:\r\rGive the tank a minute before you start blowing flamestrike, blade fury, or hellfire. That tank needs a few seconds to ensure those mobs are really ticked at him.\r\rFor Healing classes:\r\rKnow your priorities - tanks 1st, healers 2nd, DPS 10th. Small heals at first, then larger heals after the tank has sufficiently ticked off the mobs.\r\rFor tanks:\r\rDon't mess around. Get in there and taunt, sunder, heroic strike, whatever. If the tooltip says it causes increased threat, use it early, use it often. Your healer has your back.

Комментарий от EmAir

on 2008-12-05T07:39:06-06:00

Epic post :)\r\rMake sure you avoid the must furious of all murloc skills when tanking them: Demoralizing Mmmrrrggglll !

Комментарий от pelf

on 2008-12-05T12:22:50-06:00

While you say it in colorful terms, one thing that I have found very misunderstood by players is the actual mechanic behind taunts (the real taunts).

Copies aggro's threat to you.No effect when you have aggro.Temporary locked to you.

Also, the melee vs. range 110\/130 rule.

It was a cute way to lay out the basics, though. I wonder if it would be meaningful to someone who has no clue about it as well as funny to people who already understand it...

Комментарий от ArgentSun

on 2008-12-05T14:05:34-06:00

It's a basic example, not a walthrough the whole aggro system...stop dwelling into it.\r\rNot mentioned in the dialog.\rNor is DPS, just tanking and healing.\r\rHmm...\rThe creature will be so focused on hurting the big, hulking meanie who called him a pizza-face he will never notice the guy poking him in the back with a broken bottle, nor the healer sitting in the back.

Комментарий от blademeld

on 2008-12-05T16:00:05-06:00

You nub Argentsun :P

I said dialog, not commentary\/post\/whatever else.

(although I can't blame you for thinking that way)

Комментарий от Ryzzo

on 2008-12-05T17:50:32-06:00

I think the whole cutesy WoW thing is being taken out of proportion.\r\rLike, im not trying to be an ass. But honestly if a new player read this article they would probably be more lost than they already are. The definitions are chill, but a little too much fluff.\r\r+2 for creativity.\r-1 for content.

Комментарий от TCM1

Комментарий от Arideni

on 2008-12-06T02:40:03-06:00

I spelled it correctly, though it was not the word intended. Gimme credit!\r\rSome felt the post was too fluffy. This was something I thought about a lot early on and I felt that it worked out fairly well. The topic lays down enough background information for my future entries without going into lengthy detail. If you were interested in reading about how if no one does anything to a creature it will kill the healer shortly thereafter feel free to reread this sentence. Otherwise, the topic is pretty obvious to most of all players, even ones just starting. The terminology is a different story as most aren't familiar with it unless they have been in the MMO world before.\r\rRegardless, if anyone out there became confused with this post, let us know! Our goal is to bring information to the masses to help ease the play experience, not confuzzle or disorient. Feedback such as this is what helps shape or mold future entries. Thanks everyone!

Комментарий от Manwue

on 2008-12-06T04:42:50-06:00

A few Math:\r\rA creature, even if it is just a slimy greeny murloc, attacks the player that seems more menacing to it. Now, you may go the barber and create a really menacing-looking player, but since most creatures have little fashion sence, this will not help much.\rIt may surprise most of the players, but creatures calculate who to attack according to a small notebook in wich they record all the offensive and hostile actions you take towards them. That small notebook is refered to as an "aggro list" (short for aggresion list). \rAllthough most creatures hang around in small groups, each one has its own unique "aggro-list".\r\rLots of experimenting has been made to justify how are creatures determining who is the most menacing player. \r\rTo make things easy, we will use a point system (chances are that creatures use a point system as well).\rEach point of damage done to a creature causes 1 (one) aggro point.\rEach point of effective healing done to someone attacking the creature causes 1\/2 (half) aggro point.\rSome spells and abilities that the heroes use cause a set amount of aggro points, regardless of the damage done.\rSome spells and abilities (taunt for example) override the aggro list, and force the creature to attack the one with the colorfull expressions about its mother, regardless of who is first on the aggro list.\rOnce the creature actually decides to attack someone, it doesnot change its mind easily. In order to swap target, the new target must have 110% of the aggro points of the curent target if it is in melle range, or 130% of the aggro points if it is not. (obviously, the between two players with the same aggro points, the creature will attack the nearest)\rThe aggro points do not "fade" with time. \rThe aggro points reset to 0 once the combat ends.\rSeveral mobs have strange abilities, ignoring any one of the above rules.\r\rIn order to clear some of the confusion, here is a simpler and more coherent definition (quoted from Flintlocke's guide to Azeroth):\r"Aggro" is a highly technical and complex game term that loosly translates to: "The Priest Dies"

Комментарий от Ryzzo

on 2008-12-06T21:58:07-06:00

\rSome felt the post was too fluffy. This was something I thought about a lot early on and I felt that it worked out fairly well. The topic lays down enough background information for my future entries without going into lengthy detail. If you were interested in reading about how if no one does anything to a creature it will kill the healer shortly thereafter feel free to reread this sentence. Otherwise, the topic is pretty obvious to most of all players, even ones just starting. The terminology is a different story as most aren't familiar with it unless they have been in the MMO world before.\r\rRegardless, if anyone out there became confused with this post, let us know! Our goal is to bring information to the masses to help ease the play experience, not confuzzle or disorient. Feedback such as this is what helps shape or mold future entries. Thanks everyone!\r\rWell, don't get me wrong... The article's literary construction is wonderful. I suppose even at WoWhead you guys are forced to cater to both "factions" of WoW players - the casual and the hardcore. I'd say I would land pretty much in the center, but thats beside the point. \r\rWhat caught me off-guard about the article was that it was said to be a "Basic Example", when I think its more like an "Abstract Example", since no real player abilities are involved.\r\rEither way, very well-written. I'd like it to be known that I personally appreciate everything you guys offer to the community.

Комментарий от Sethril

on 2008-12-08T09:40:38-06:00

Excellent post! Well written and with some great nuances that may have missed some people, but were appreciated none-the-less. \r\rTips from my end of things would be specific to those taunts. While calling someone's mother a bottom-crawling-fish-feeder may work for about six seconds, it's always going to be more effective if you "accentuate" your insults with a little injury.\r\rFor those of you who are purely mechanic based what I'm saying here is that a taunt will throw enemy mobs off of the threat mechanic for however long the taunt lasts. EX:\r\rA druid's Challenging Roar will only last for 6 seconds. As soon as those 6 seconds are it won't matter what you called their future offspring, they're going to jump all over the nuke happy mage who keeps flinging fireballs despite your pleading. \r\rMost taunts are best paired with a fistful of hurt, that way it lasts much longer and you can use the "threat spike" to last far longer and become more sustainable over time. \r\rArideni you did a great job of explaining things for any beginner, and even for a couple players that have been running around Azeroth for a while sitting in the dps classes since conception. I just wanted to clarify your "maintain" piece on tanking, I've seen too many tanks who shout and sit waiting for mobs to run to them with fists of fury.